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In the military, leaders are taught to explain their guidance to subordinates whenever possible. But sometimes, a Soldier needs to just be quiet and roll out. Y

In the military, leaders are taught to explain their guidance to subordinates whenever possible. But sometimes, a Soldier needs to just be quiet and roll out. Yes, this does require a Soldier to trust his leadership. It also requires them to be a professional. It is not your job as a subordinate to mentor/develop your supervisor. It is that team lead's supervisor. If I were treated this way, that subordinate would lose some of his paycheck or be forced to work many extra hours performing menial tasks. Far more importantly, I would have lost respect for that individual. It's one thing to ask for clarification (which is awesome), it's another to convey blatant disrespect and unprofessionalism. No matter the circumstance or poor leadership, you do not demean yourself like that.

icholy 9y ago
This isn't the military.
- marcoandrade 9y ago
  Thank you for the in-depth analysis buddy. It's a great how you addressed the underlying point of the comment.
  - icholy 9y ago
    Lol you sound like a shit boss/manager.
- abiox 9y ago
  perhaps this is why some people think it's "just fine" to undercut someone's authority while giving no mind to their responsibility.
kranner 9y ago
Docking someone's paycheck for disagreeing or forcing them to do menial tasks seems like the more obviously unprofessional thing in the non-military world.
- abiox 9y ago
  (In the US,) You generally can't fire someone from the military, at least not without a lot of effort and paperwork.
hjrnunes 9y ago
People here seem to fundamentally misunderstand authority. They seem to think it is something that you "use", rather than something that you have - specifically, the property of morally obligating someone to do something. Hence the silly statements like: "I believe all authority should be questioned" - which is, of course, absurd. Questioning authority simply means there is no - and cannot be any - authority. Which is different from questioning someone's authority - whether that someone really has or has not the authority on a specific concrete situation.
metaphor 9y ago
The US military has boot camp to psychologically break its trainees down and build them back up closer to ideal (not to mention the inherent impressionability of youth). Furthermore, it leverages painfully binding enlistment terms and the UCMJ hammer. Civilians who work for the US military aren't beholden to any of this, and they also have the unique difficulty of culling incompatibly after a civilian in competitive service has gotten past a brief probationary period, let alone if a union is involved; observe the author suggests removing the individual from the team (i.e. not firing) and approaching the lead's supervisor as a last resort...this is not coincidence. The categorical feel good smoke blowing that brass are so aptly known for leaves a lingering odor that can be smelled from a mile away by competent individuals. Comparatively speaking, military leadership is a cake walk, and even the uninspirational get a PCS reset every few years. Already under-compensated, civilians with STEM backgrounds tend not to play the insignificant cog game, and surely not when a team lead barks I this, that, or the other.

icholy 9y ago

This isn't the military.

marcoandrade 9y ago
Thank you for the in-depth analysis buddy. It's a great how you addressed the underlying point of the comment.
- icholy 9y ago
  Lol you sound like a shit boss/manager.
abiox 9y ago
perhaps this is why some people think it's "just fine" to undercut someone's authority while giving no mind to their responsibility.

kranner 9y ago

Docking someone's paycheck for disagreeing or forcing them to do menial tasks seems like the more obviously unprofessional thing in the non-military world.

abiox 9y ago
(In the US,) You generally can't fire someone from the military, at least not without a lot of effort and paperwork.

hjrnunes 9y ago

People here seem to fundamentally misunderstand authority. They seem to think it is something that you "use", rather than something that you have - specifically, the property of morally obligating someone to do something. Hence the silly statements like: "I believe all authority should be questioned" - which is, of course, absurd. Questioning authority simply means there is no - and cannot be any - authority. Which is different from questioning someone's authority - whether that someone really has or has not the authority on a specific concrete situation.

metaphor 9y ago

The US military has boot camp to psychologically break its trainees down and build them back up closer to ideal (not to mention the inherent impressionability of youth). Furthermore, it leverages painfully binding enlistment terms and the UCMJ hammer. Civilians who work for the US military aren't beholden to any of this, and they also have the unique difficulty of culling incompatibly after a civilian in competitive service has gotten past a brief probationary period, let alone if a union is involved; observe the author suggests removing the individual from the team (i.e. not firing) and approaching the lead's supervisor as a last resort...this is not coincidence. The categorical feel good smoke blowing that brass are so aptly known for leaves a lingering odor that can be smelled from a mile away by competent individuals. Comparatively speaking, military leadership is a cake walk, and even the uninspirational get a PCS reset every few years. Already under-compensated, civilians with STEM backgrounds tend not to play the insignificant cog game, and surely not when a team lead barks I this, that, or the other.